


Coffeeshop!Dralira

by ZorroAEB



Category: snonk
Genre: College!AU, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Rating May Change, child abuse will probably be discussed, coffeshop!au, creative writing!celira, except drace likes tea so that's kind of hilarious, if I don't get drace to sing by the end of this I will be upset with myself, palentology!drace
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27033004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZorroAEB/pseuds/ZorroAEB
Summary: Drace meets Celira in a coffeshop and stuff spirals from there. I am honestly pantsing this and it's pretty great.
Relationships: Drace Hass/Celira East
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Coffeeshop!Dralira

All that Drace wants is a nice cup of peppermint tea. They definitely don’t want to be stuck in this long line. And they most definitely don’t want to be standing behind a cute girl with a leather satchel and lots of rainbow books coming out of it.

The cute girl turns around and smiles at them and then faces forward again.

Then the cute girl turns around again and says, “Hi is it okay if I interview you for a paper I’m working on?”

What?

Drace tilts their head and raises their eyebrows. The cute girl laughs and holds out her hand, “By the way, I’m Celira. Celira East. Oh and I go by she/her/hers pronouns! I’m taking a journalism class and I need to interview people and you look nice so I thought I might ask you!”

Drace doesn’t look nice. Why does the cute girl-Celira-think they look nice?

Celira either doesn’t notice their confusion or doesn’t care, “You do go to college here, right? You look around my age, even if you’re way taller!”

Drace really doesn’t know what to say to this, so they just nod. This girl-Celira-is very strange. Drace thinks that they might like it. Not her. Definitely not the girl.

“Great! I’ll buy you your drink, if you want!” Celira looks up at Drace and smiles like her day has just been made. Depending on when her assignment is due, it might have been.

Drace is still so fucking confused. How did this happen to them? What was going on, “Um, no thanks? I can pay for myself.”

“Fine with me!” Celira smiles again and the line moves forward. They were coming up soon, “Oh I forgot! What’s your name?”

Drace really has no fucking clue what to say anymore. Because _hi I’m Drace and I don’t really know which of my last names I should use because I was in the foster system_ does not sound like a good option.

“Drace,” is all they say, shrugging.

“Just Drace?” Celira tilts her head. She looks excited, like Drace was some mystery that she was going to get to the bottom of and figure out within weeks. Drace is not sure how they feel about this at all.

“Yep. Just Drace,” don’t pry don’t pry don’t pry. This is private and talking about it is not fun and no.

Drace crosses their arms over their chest and Celira beams, “Okay! Do you come here often?”

Drace tilts their head in the other direction and studies the cafe-coffeeshop-thing. It has a nice atmosphere and there is always some kind of folksy music playing in the background. Drace likes it here. Even if the line is too long.

“I thought the interview wasn’t until later?”

Celira bursts out laughing again, as if Drace has said something funny. They don’t think they are particularly funny.

“Yeah I was just trying to get to know you a bit better!” But why would Celira want to know Drace better if this is only going to be one interview? Even if Drace might think that this Celira is somewhat attractive, they weren’t going to admit and she probably doesn’t like them back. So why then.

“Okay?” Drace is so confused. They just wanted a cup of peppermint tea and to go back and work on that overdue assignment for the shitty business class that mother had guilted them into taking. But this cute journalism girl with her leather satchel apparently had other plans.

Celira beams again and the barista coughs awkwardly behind them, “Ummmm ma’am? It’s your turn to order.”

Celira laughs and Drace’s world stops. What the fuck? Is this magic?

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention. But hmmmmm, may I please have a large mocha?” Drace is mildly impressed. They’d thought that Celira would be getting a frappuccino, and not a large anything.

Well, everyone does whatever they want.

Celira pays and then steps off to the side to wait for her drink. She smiles again at Drace. Why does she keep doing that? Well whatever.

The cashier looks up, bored, “And for you?”

Drace winces. This always gets some weird looks, “A medium cup of peppermint tea.”

The cashier blinks for a few seconds before saying, “Name?”

“Drace”

“Alright that will be $2.99”

Drace pays and then silently goes to stand by Celira until their drink comes, “Tea? In a coffee shop?”

Drace tenses. Why the fuck wouldn’t anyone have tea, “Well tea is fucking better than coffee in every single damn way, so yes.”

Celira bursts out laughing and leans a bit closer, “You’re funny! I like you!”

Drace freezes. What the fuck? What? The Fuck? Are they blushing? They really hope they aren’t blushing. That would be fucking humiliating.

Celira looks up at them and beams. Fuck. They’re blushing.

“Um, large mocha for Celira?” Drace and Celira both look over. The barista is standing behind the counter, looking extremely bored.

Celira smiles, walks over, and grabs it. She thanks the barista and then comes back to Drace, “Do you want me to grab a table or should I stand here with you?”

What the fuck, “Do whatever you feel like. I don’t have a fucking preference.”

Celira smiles again, “Okay! I’ll just be at that table over there then!”

She points to a small table in the corner of the room with two comfy-looking red seats across from one another. Normally Drace would sit in the window seats, but they suppose they can deal with one little change.

“Okay.” Drace nods and then goes back to waiting for their tea. The cute girl Celira said that she liked them. But she couldn’t like them. She didn’t know how fucked up Drace was, or anything about them. And once she did, she would probably just leave anyway.

“Peppermint tea for Drace?” the barista’s mildly disgusted tone snaps Drace out of their thoughts.

They stalk over and grab the tea from the barista, glaring at them. The barista gives them a fake smile. Drace glares again and walks over to Celira.

They slide into the seat across from her and she grins. Drace thinks that Celira is enjoying herself a bit too much.

Celira leans forward in her seat and stares into Drace’s eyes, “So, what are your pronouns?”

“She/they,” Drace answers, startled. Celira asked? This strange journalism girl who drank mochas and had a bag full of books asked for Drace’s pronouns? No one had done that before. This girl is strangely nice.

Drace takes a sip of their tea and almost-smiles.

“That’s really cool!” Celira drinks her mocha, “Ahhh nice and hot. Just the way I like it!”

Drace raises their eyebrows but just takes another sip of their tea. When Celira finally gets around to interviewing them, they’ll be ready. Unless it takes 3 fucking hours and they have to go to class, that is.

“So, why do you drink tea instead of coffee anyway?” Celira leaned back in her chair and flipped open her notebook. Was this really a fucking interview question?

“Because it tastes better than fucking coffee and it isn’t fucking bitter and it’s nice why the fuck else?” Crap that was loud. People are staring now. Shit. Drace sighs through their nose and mentally kicks themself. This is why they try to avoid staying in places that are supposed to be quiet for too long.

Celira laughs to herself and smiles again, “This is a coffeeshop you know. But I guess there aren’t very many tea places around so, that makes sense,” she shrugs.

Drace wants to glare at her, but they don’t think they could pull it off very well. They try anyway. Celira laughs again, “You’re funny, you know.”

Drace tilts their head, “What?”

Celira laughs again, “Yeah, and it’s not in like, a bad way or anything.”

Drace really isn’t sure that they believe her but whatever. It’s just this one interview and then this strangely beautiful girl will move on the world and she will never think of Drace again.

“Thanks I guess,” Drace mutters.

Celira beams and reaches for her phone, “Now, onto the actual interview.”

“You mean that wasn’t the actual interview?” Drace glares at her and they think that they actually manage it pretty well this time.

“Shit. No it wasn’t and now I’m late for my creative writing class. Shit.” Celira goes to stand up and Drace is suprised that they’re actually somewhat upset that she’s leaving.

“Can I have your number?” Celira smiles at Drace, “I still want to interview you, and I think that texting you would be easier than sitting in this coffeeshop waiting for you to show up one day.”

Drace nods and takes Celira’s phone. They put their number in her contacts and look up at Celira. She’s actually taller than them right now.

“Thanks Drace! I’ll text you once I know that I’m free! I can’t wait to talk to you again!” Celira waves as she leaves and Drace watches her go.

Once she walks out of the coffeeshop, Drace waves back at her. Drace doesn’t think that she sees. That’s probably for the best.

Drace stares into their mug of tea, “I don’t fucking need people. At all. Ever. I’m fine alone.”

Then they drink the rest of their tea and pull out their shitty intro into business work. With Celira gone, it’s all too easy to remember that the ever-present reality is that they will never have people who truly care and that’s okay.

With that thought, Drace starts to work on the essay, easily writing lies about the importance of the economy and why child labor is okay. They try to ignore the bad taste in their mouth and hope, even though they know that it won’t fucking happen, that Celira will text them soon.


End file.
